Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has taken a swipe at Donald Trump’s ardent supporters, claiming they need to be “formally deprogrammed”.
In a staggering interview, the woman who Trump beat to the presidency in 2016 compared anyone still supporting the 77-year-old after the January 6 insurrection to members of a cult.
Clinton conceded that she expects the former president to become the GOP (Grand Old Party) nominee for the 2024 election, adding that she believes Biden can come out on top again.
“Maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members”, Clinton suggested in the CNN interview.
Hillary Clinton has delivered a scathing assessment of Donald Trump's supporters
REUTERS / CNN
“And sadly, many of those extremists, those MAGA (Make America Great Again) extremists, take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure.
“He is only in it for himself.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Comparing Trump to the man he hopes to take the reins from, Clinton claimed the Republican “violates the law on a regular basis”.
“One appeals to the worst in our collective psyche, the other gets things done”, she said.
“Why is that a hard choice?”
In her series of blistering comments about the Republicans, she spoke of the need for the right of the party to be reined in.
Donald Trump remains the favourite for the Republican nomination despite his legal troubles
ReutersShe claimed the party is in an “absolute hostage situation with its most extreme members” when it comes to the ongoing Republican leadership race in the House of Representatives.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the job on Tuesday by a small group of GOP members voting with Democrats.
Despite Clinton’s comments and Trump’s legal battles, the former US president remains in pole position in the race for the Republican presidency nomination.
Others vying for the position include Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, but nobody has been able to make significant inroads into Trump’s lead in the polls.
Americans are turning their attention to 2024 election polls, with a recent one suggesting fourteen per cent of voters dislike both of the leading candidates for president, according to the latest PBC NewsHour/NPR/Maris poll.
Biden has a slight lead over Trump with 49 per cent of registered voters saying they would pick the incumbent over his predecessor.
Independents favour Trump by an eight point margin, according to the poll, and the race remains virtually unchanged from August.
Voters who dislike both Trump and Biden have become a “swing voter group” according to Republican strategist Whit Ayers, who told PBS that both parties will be spending a significant amount of time and money attempting to win it over.